Ryan Hurst

Ryan Hurst carved a niche as a go-to actor for earnest, beefy athletes, soldiers and cops, before crafting one of the most compelling characters in cable drama as an outwardly menacing but big-hearted biker-gang member on the FX series "Sons of Anarchy" (2008-14). The tall, athletic scion of a Hollywood family, Hurst began his career frequently playing less-than-cerebral types, as per his first star turn on the short-lived sitcom "Campus Cops" (USA Network, 1995-96). He added some texture to his type as the tragic linebacker in the Disney football drama "Remember the Titans" (2000) and played it for comic hyperbole in the Coen brothers' "The Ladykillers" (2004). Hurst meanwhile became a player on the Los Angeles theatrical scene, founding L.A.'s The Viking Underground Repertory, and showed his range in a run of indie films, including "Perfect Lover" (2001), "Lone Star State of Mind" (2002) and "Noble Things" (2008). After some forays into episodic television, notably the Sci Fi Channel miniseries "Taken" (2002) and the TNT cop actioner "Wanted" (2005), he landed a regular gig and fan-favorite status in 2008 on FX's "Sons of Anarchy," playing a thoughtful, increasingly conflicted member of the central outlaw biker gang. Ever expanding his CV laterally, Hurst increasingly built a reputation as one of those thespians designated to steal every scene.